Second- and third-year JMSC students have been granted individual, one-year licenses to install Adobe’s Creative Cloud full editing suite on their own laptops or home computers.

The initiative, funded by the SCMP Wah Kiu Yat Po Journalism Fund, gives the students access to such programs as Photoshop, Premiere Pro and InDesign, software they are using in their production classes at the JMSC.

Professor Ying Chan, Director of the JMSC, said this was in keeping with the JMSC’s programme of keeping up with the fast-changing advances in digital journalism. “We believe in technology, and we want our students to be able to master the technology to tell stories,” Chan said.

While computers at the Digital Media Lab and the Post-production Suite at Eliot Hall are fully equipped, Chan emphasizes the importance of students being able to access the software at all times, and to edit on the go, especially as many JMSC students have been engaged in covering news of the Hong Kong democracy protests.

“It meets the way news is produced today,” Chan said. “Now journalists have to work in a digital, 24/7, mobile environment.”

The suite has uses across the spectrum of journalistic output. Photographer Kees Metselaar, who teaches photography at the JMSC, said the software allows students to import and process photos in their own time. Students “can therefore become more experienced in using the software, and that can equip them to become better journalists,” he said.

Nikita Mathur, a second-year bachelor of journalism student, said that the software is an excellent learning tool both in and out of class.

Having the license “allows me to learn about the programs at my own pace and with my own interest. So regardless of whether I’m using any of the Adobe Create Suite programs in my classes, I’m continuously exploring and learning on my own,” Mathur said.